Family Games: General Models of Psychotic Processes in the Family

What is the origin of psychosis? What is the complex relationship between so-called ‘mental illness’ and the problems which afflict families? The attempt to provide an answer to these questions began with the courageous decision to transform a professional practice into a centre for research. To this end, Mara Selvini Palazzoli conducted family therapy sessions in a highly original context, characterized by the unusual length of time devoted to the sittings (half a day); by the presence of a team of therapists drawn from the different working backgrounds and orientations; by direct observation, made possible by the use of a one-way mirror; and by a systematic investigation of the effects of the therapies based on written transcriptions of all the sessions, in addition to audio and visual recordings.